Category Archives: Egypt

‘Yesterday we celebrated Independence Day and this morning we received a painful reminder of the reality in which we exist’

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 Israel Today Staff

Two missiles slammed into the southern Israel resort town of Eilat early Wednesday morning, causing damage to a residential area, but, miraculously, no injuries.

Area children, who had only recently arrived for school, were rushed to bomb shelters.

Israeli forces said the missiles were fired from the Sinai Peninsula, where various regional terrorist groups including Hezbollah and Al Qaeda are known to have set up shop in recent years.

Egypt initially rejected reports that the attack had emanated from Sinai, but later Egyptian forces began searching the area for possible launch sites.

Israeli Water and Energy Minister Silvan Shalom spoke for the government when he issued the following statement:

“Yesterday we celebrated Independence Day and this morning we received a painful reminder of the reality in which we exist. The shooting highlights our need to protect ourselves and not put our fate in the hands of others.”

Later in the day a Salafi Muslim group calling itself the Mujahedeen Shura Council claimed credit for the attack, announcing on its website that its fighters had managed to “target occupied Eilat with two Grad rockets.”

An estimated 30 million locusts are currently plaguing southern Cairo, as Egyptian official struggle to find a way to dispose of a swarm the size of which they could not have predicted.

Locusts swarm Egypt every year, but typically in manageable numbers. The size of this year’s swarm came as a complete surprise, and is reportedly causing enormous damage.

Egypt’s military is deploying whatever means at its disposal to deal with the problem, but the country might have to wait until predicted strong winds later this week carry the swarm away toward Saudi Arabia.

News of the swarm comes just weeks before the biblical festival of Passover, when Jews and many Christians commemorate the divinely-guided exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.

A major component of the Exodus story is God’s afflicting of Egypt with 10 plagues, one of which was a locust swarm of exaggerated size.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday officially signed into law a new constitution drafted by his own Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups, and which critics say has effectively placed Egypt under strict Sharia Law.

Two referendums were held on the new constitution. The results of the second were announced on Tuesday: 63.8 percent of the small number of those who voted were in favor of the document.

Morsi said now that the new constitution is in place, he can focus on fixing Egypt’s internal problems. But others say it will only exacerbate internal divisions and transform Egypt into a pariah state on par with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While Morsi claims the new constitution contains rights and protections for all Egyptians, its vagueness in certain areas and overt Islamic flavor has lead many to fear that radical Muslim clerics are going to play an increasingly influential role in Egypt, while minority groups and women will suffer.

“It’s a disaster,” female Egyptian lawyer Nihad Abu El Konsam told German media. “There isn’t a single article in the draft constitution that mentions the rights of women.”

“This constitution will set Egypt 100 years back,” added Abu El Konsam, noting that the Muslim Brotherhood had purposely left “open doors” that will result in Egyptians being placed under an extremist form of Islamic rule.

Hamdeen Sabahi, an opposition leader who placed third in Egypt’s presidential election, said the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists have “stolen” Egypt’s pro-democracy revolution, but he remains hopeful that they can be toppled.

In the meantime, “Morsi may have been elected democratically, but he is not governing democratically,” charged Sabahi in an interview with the Associated Press.

Evidence of that was seen in Morsi’s reaction to ongoing opposition to his new constitution even after it passed the referendum. The president issued a thinly-veiled warning that public demonstrations against his rule must end, because the people were tired of it.

Morsi tried to accuse all who oppose him of being responsible for the nation’s continuing economic woes, a tried and true tactic used by all of recent history’s most successful despots.

The threats seemed to be working. While the run-up to the referendum saw hundreds of thousands protesting daily in central Cairo and even marching on the presidential palace, now that it has been signed into law very few are taking to the streets.

A leading analyst at Israel’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies says Western leaders are naive if they believe the Muslim Brotherhood has abandoned its quest to destroy Israel merely because of its leadership role in Egypt.

Dr. Liad Porat agreed with the assessment of many Western and Israeli leaders that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood overlords either won’t be able to or won’t desire to start a direct military conflict with Israel in the coming 10 years.

“The Brotherhood recognizes Israel’s military and technological advantage and doesn’t want to start a war,” wrote Porat.

But that doesn’t mean the Brotherhood won’t encourage and facilitate hostile activity directed at Israel.

“The possibility of a security threat emanating from Egypt in the near future cannot be dismissed,” noted Porat, especially considering the Brotherhood’s active efforts to demonize Israel in the eyes of average Egyptians.

Since its recent rise to power, the Muslim Brotherhood “has influenced the Egyptian street to think that Israel is no longer a stabilizing factor in the region,” Porat explained. “The Brotherhood has convinced the Egyptian public that a treaty with Israel harms Egyptian national security and threatens internal Egyptian stability.”

Just last month, as world leaders were praising Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for his role in brokering a truce between Israel and Gaza-based terrorists, Morsi’s boss and the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Mohammed Badie, was reiterating that it was “obligatory” for all Muslims to wage jihad against the Jewish state.

And that brings us to Porat’s point, which is that the West has an opportunity to nip this threat in the bud years before it has the chance to blossom into violent conflict.

“America has an interest to financially assist Egypt as an actor that is still considered moderate in the Middle East,” concluded Porat. However, “it should look more closely at the Brotherhood’s true intentions before providing future aid.”

Failure to do so is almost certain to bring about the realization of fears that Egypt is transforming into a Sunni version of Iran’s Islamic Republic.

We thank all of you for your seriousness and faithfulness to pray for Israel.

Today we received a report that the young Israeli soldiers that are guarding the fence with Gaza City and Hamas have their hands totally tied! Every day since the cease fire there have been hundreds and even thousands of Palestinians and among them Hamas terrorists in uniform, gather right at the fence threatening and taunting the IDF soldiers!

Some soldiers reported anonymously that the situation is so serious, that they are not able to protect the Israeli villages around Gaza or even themselves from any kind of attack or violence.

IDF soldiers are not even allowed to shoot in the air in order to deter the Gazans from crossing the fence and infiltrating Israel! This situation is already seen by Hamas as weakness from the side of Israel and it is only a matter of time before some tragedy happens to these young soldiers or some Israeli farmer that is working the land near the fence! We are greatly concerned for their safety and we ask you to pray for them! The mockery from the side of Hamas is big.

Please pray Genesis 21:8-11

The government if Israel has signed a cease fire dictated by Mursi, the President of Egypt that completely ties Israel’s hands! In other words it is a unilateral cease fire, while the other side can bend the rules with no repercussion.

Mursi is already paying the price for his stand against Israel with this mock cease fire, the Egyptian stock exchange has dropped 10 percent and this is unprecedented and causes great financial trouble! Until Mursi’s intervention on behalf of Hamas their stock exchange had gone up 30 percent! Genesis 12:3
Pray Psalm 2 and 3

Soldiers and civilians in Israel are for the most part extremely disappointed with the decision of the government to implement cease fire before time.

PM Netanyahu declared that the established goals of diminishing the Hamas power has been achieved however both the public and the military were ready for a much more thorough operation to defeat and uproot the Hamas altogether. Most government buildings were indeed destroyed, 180 dead in Gaza, 900 wounded, and out of 10000 Hamas has “only” 5000 rockets left.

However, Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh declared victory and that Hamas won public recognition. On top of it he stated that Pillar of Cloud operation is a wonderful bridge for the real purpose which is the conquest of Jerusalem and all “their” land. It looks that in spite of all their hits (1500 air force hits over Gaza) they are actually very encouraged by the outcome while most of the Israeli citizens are discouraged, very unhappy about this.

PM Netanyahu states that if the cease fire will be broken by Hamas, Israel will be ready for a more radical operation including the takeover of Gaza (implied by the PM but mentioned by the media)

Israel lost 6 people (2 soldiers and 4 civilians) and 450 wounded. Iron Dome managed to pre- explode 450 rockets preventing much damage and loss of life.

We shall continue praying until all of Israel is saved and established in its Land. For sure His promises will be kept!

Until January 22 Israel is in a race for new elections! Let us pray for a leader after YHVH’s (Gods) own heart!

Thank you and bless you for keeping your prayers flowing for Israel as requested in Isaiah 62:1,6,7

A mock cease fire agreement between Israel and Gaza was concocted politically by USA and Egypt. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was the conduit by which President Mursi of Egypt was “persuaded” to mediate or actually command this cease fire. Obama most probably threatened the brand new Egyptian president with removal of financial support unless he intervened to mediate a cease fire.
13 rockets were launched by Hamas in the Neguev AFTER the cease fire went into effect! And yet Israel is still honoring the “cease fire”! This is only giving them time to rearm! The sense of betrayal that we and many in the Neguev feel is huge!
PM Benjamin Netanyahu declared that this cease fire is the right thing to do in order to allow the Israeli citizens to go back to routine. He stated that Israel hit many targets in Gaza, decreased their arsenal of rockets substantially and seriously hurt the command chain of the Hamas. But he added that a much more drastic operation may be needed at a later stage.

Our question is when is a “later stage”? How many more rockets does the Hamas need to shoot against innocent Israeli civilians before the “later stage” comes and a MUCH more drastic operation is put in effect?

In Gaza they have been celebrating tonight their victory against the Zionists!

The only thing I pray is that Israel will get the biggest laugh at the end because He that sits in the Heavens is laughing at the vain attempt of the nations to make him look as a liar. No doubt He will have the last laugh and word on this! Pray Psalm 2

Pray for unity among the people of Israel to prevail so the more drastic operation can take place swiftly! Pray for hope into the hearts of the battered citizens of the Neguev and the IDF soldiers. Psalm 121, Isaiah 61
Pray for confidence and determination in the Israeli government to finnish what they started so that the citizens of the Neguev can celebrate their family Shabbats with peace and quiet and without rockets flying over their heads for all the years to come.